Sideswipe: July 1: Water saving tip

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"The latest water shortage in Auckland reminds me of a story my mother told me," writes Maureen Woodall of Hillcrest. "When she was young the kids all come down for breakfast one morning and they all said the porridge tasted funny. Their father then told them that he had made the porridge with the water from their hot water bottles.  Another lot was quickly made."

A Man's World

When Long Island filmmaker Ellen Cooperman divorced her husband in 1975, she changed her last name to Cooperperson because it "more properly reflects [my] sense of human equality than does the name Cooperman." State Supreme Court Justice John Scileppi refused to ratify the change, saying that it "would have serious and undesirable repercussions, perhaps throughout the entire country." He cited "virtually endless and increasingly inane" possibilities: A person named "Jackson" might seek to become "Jackchild," a "Manning" might prefer "Peopling," or a woman named "Carmen" might want to be "Carperson." "This would truly be in the realm of nonsense," he said. Undaunted, she appealed Scileppi's decision and won in 1978. She's still using Cooperperson today.

The athlete

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"In 1936 thousands of Aucklanders signed petitions against the 'disgusting' nude figure Richard Gross had carved for the entrance to their Domain. No one objected to the statue's fascist aesthetics. Gross had been inspired by the art made for the recent Nazi Olympics."
(Via @SikotiHamiltonR)

A word in your ear

1. My daughter, when aged three used to refer to antibiotics  as 'antibyrockets'. The family still call them that, some 40 years later.
2. Our three-year-old use to say 'salad dressing gown' for salad dressing. I wonder why we now call it mayonnaise!
3. When I was a child minder in the uk, one of my little charges said one day "I want a be sick ". I rushed over to him with a bowl and said be sick in this. He looked puzzled and said again "I want a be sick," I realised then he wanted a Biscuit!
4. Our two young sons couldn't pronounce Grandmother, so she was proudly known as "Grandmugger"

Last word

"I found out the other day that "penguin" in Mandarin Chinese is literally "business goose" and I haven't been able to think about anything else since." (Via Twitter)